In the draft comment letter, EFRAG agrees with the proposals in the exposure draft published last Friday that would provide lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification. However, EFRAG would support expanding the scope of the amendment to include all rent concessions granted during 2020 and not just payments due in 2020.
EFRAG has also published a preparatory draft of an endorsement advice of the amendment. Doing so before issuance of the final amendment by the IASB is intended to allow for the finalisation of the endorsement advice as soon as possible after the IASB has issued the amendment to IFRS 16. The preparatory draft of the endorsement advice is based on the assumption that the final amendment will not be substantially different from the proposals in the exposure draft.
Comments on EFRAG's draft comment letter are requested by 7 May 2020, comments the preparatory draft of an endorsement advice by 20 May 2020. For more information, see the press release, the draft comment letter and the preparatory draft of an endorsement advice on the EFRAG website.
EFRAG is also offering a public outreach event on the exposure draft on Thursday 7 May 2020. More information is available here.